Two police constables were martyred on Monday when unidentified gunmen riding motorbikes opened fire at them in Lakki Marwat’s Jabukhel area, an official said. Police Department’s Spokesperson Shahid Hameed confirmed the incident and said that it occurred within the limits of the Ghanikhel police station. He said that the assailants “opened fire on Constables Hikmatullah and Khan Bahadar when they were going to their duty place on a motorcycle from Kherukhel Pacca area”. “Both of them received critical bullet injuries and died instantly while the attackers fled the place on a motorcycle,” the spokesperson said. The spokesperson added that the martyred police officials were deployed at the Shaheed Haibat Ali Khan police station of Darra Pezu town and Shahbazkhel police station, respectively. “The bodies were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital Tajazai for post-mortem examination,” he said, adding that a heavy contingent of law enforcement officers arrived at the scene, launching a search operation to apprehend the attackers. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. Meanwhile, the Interior Minister, Mohsin Naqvi, condemned the attack on the police officers and expressed solidarity with the families of the martyrs. He praised the sacrifice of the slain officers and assured their families that the government stands with them in this difficult time. The country has lately witnessed a sharp uptick in the number of attacks targeting security forces, other law enforcement agencies, and security checkpoints, particularly in Balochistan and KP. Attacks escalated after the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke a fragile ceasefire agreement with the government in 2022 and vowed to target security forces. On Jan 4, two soldiers travelling in a passenger coach from Karak were kidnapped by terrorists in the Kurrum Par area of Lakki Marwat district. Meanwhile, two civilians and a policeman lost their lives and 18 others, including nine law-enforcement personnel, were injured in three separate blasts in South Waziristan Lower and Bannu and an attack on a police check post in Dera Ismail Khan district on January 1. Overall, 341 terrorists were killed in 2,801 IBOs in the first 10 months of 2024, according to the interior ministry.